Happy Release Day Interview ~ Sacrificial Muse by Maegan Beaumont

Happy Release Day to Maegan Beaumont and Sacrificial Muse!!

Here is an interview I did with Maegan late last month :)

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself that we won’t find in your bio? I’m the eldest of three girls. I don’t have any brothers but there are 30 grandchildren on my mother’s side and most of them are male so I feel like I do.

What do you do in your spare time or when you are not writing? What is this “spare time” you speak of?? Seriously though… if I’m not writing, I’m taking care of my family. If I’m not taking care of my family, I’m taking care of the animals. If I’m not taking care of the animals, I’m canning or thinking about canning (strawberries are in season and I need to put up some preserves…). But there is always time for reading. Always.

Do you have a ‘day job’? Nope. Officially, I am a writer/stay-at-home mom. Lucky girl. :)

When did you first start writing? Before I can even remember… my mom brought me a box of old school papers and mixed among them was a “book” I wrote in the 1st grade. I think I was six years old.

How or why did you choose the genre you write in? Every time I have a story idea it starts out innocently enough but then… it gets dark. That’s just where my mind naturally goes.

Where do you get your ideas? My ideas come from everywhere! I’ll see someone on the street and think what’s their story? or read something in the news that I can’t stop thinking about. Something I overhear someone saying or something I see on TV. It’s a never ending stream.

Do you ever experience writer’s block? I experience what I call writer slow down. There are times when I’ll re-write a scene a dozen times because I can’t seem to get it right or I’ll have difficulty transitioning from one scene to the next but I never stop completely.

Do you work with an outline, or do you just write? I use an abbreviated outline that highlights my inciting incident and my major plot points. Everything else that happens is a mystery to me. I have a very active imagination and I can’t see limiting myself that way. To me, that takes all the fun out of it.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult? Les Edgerton was my first writing instructor (and a published author in his own rite)and without him, I would never have found the confidence or been able to refine my write to the level needed for traditional publication. I owe that man everything.

Can you tell us about your challenges (if any) in getting your first book published? My only real challenge was getting past my own lack of confidence. I’ve always been a writer but I never believed that I could do it as a profession because I never thought I was good enough. Some days, I still don’t.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change? I would have tried sooner. I wasted a lot of time not believing in myself and it’s one of my biggest regrets.

Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published? No… but I’ve started a few stories that I never finished. Maybe it’s time to give them a dusting and get back into them. :)

Can you tell us about any WIP’s? Sure! I’m currently wrapping up book #3 in Sabrina’s series (this will be Michael’s book, told from his POV) and then I’ll take the summer to write the prequel to the series’ first book, CARVED IN DARKNESS. After that, if there is still an audience for Sabrina and Michael, I’ll start the next book in the series (#4) that will be set in Yuma, Arizona and dealing with a killer who abducts female migrant farmer workers. I’m also, slowly but surely working on an unrelated crime novel set in South Boston.

Is anything in your book based on a real life experience or is it purely all imagination? Sabrina’s relationship with her best friend, Val, is very much based on my relationship with my own best friend. Our circumstances are not the same but the fact that Val is someone whom Sabrina absolutely needs in her life—that’s very much real. I don’t know where I’d be without my bestie… she and I have been friends for 30 years. She’s an endless source of patience and encouragement to me—even when I didn’t want it or even deserve it. I think I’d probably die without her.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? I had a few… in SACRIFICIAL MUSE, there is a scene where Michael strips naked in the presence of another woman and I very much wanted the returning reader to have that now, hold on a minute moment where they thought that he was doing something he shouldn’t with her. Also, any scene where Ben is involved. He’s my absolute favorite character right now. His voice comes through loud and clear and he always has an opinion—even if the scene I’m writing has nothing to do with him.

How did you come up with the title? My publisher, Midnight Ink, came up with both brilliant titles. I suck at naming things.

What project are you working on now? I’m wrapping up book #3 in Sabrina’s series and from there I’ll work on the prequel… after that, who knows. :)

Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with again? My big theme—the one I keep going back to, again and again, is perseverance. Never giving up. Never backing down, even when it seems like giving up is the smartest thing to do. I think that’s why I love these character so much—because they very much embody that idea for me.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? When I first starting working with Les Edgerton, he told me under no uncertain terms, that my writing sucked. I had never had any formal training (not one writing class before the age of 35) and to hear that solidified what I had been afraid of my entire life—that I wasn’t good enough… but I’m not a quitter and instead of burying my head in the sand I took my knocks and used them to make myself better. That first bit of praise from him is what made me believe I could actually do this—he made me feel like a real writer… the Gold medal I just received from Independent Publishers helps too. :)

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers? Don’t be afraid to try and don’t ever give up. If you are blessed enough to find a mentor (and I strongly suggest you do!), make sure it’s one who has come further in this crazy journey we call writing and make sure they’re willing to be honest with you. Listen to them—chances are, they know what they’re doing.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans? I’d just like to thank everyone out there for all of their support and encouragement. Writing is hard and most writers are struggling. We don’t do it for fortune and fame. We do it because we love to… and for our readers. You guys are what make it all worthwhile—everything else is icing on the cake.

Thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed Maegan :)

Title: Sacrificial Muse
Author: Maegan Beaumont
Release Date: July 8th 2014
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Add to Goodreads

Sabrina opened the red envelope and saw one word...

 Mox. Soon.

After learning the identity of the serial killer behind her 83 horrific days of rape and torture, Sabrina Vaughn has suffered more physical and emotional wounds than she can handle. Despite reeling with pain both old and new, Sabrina is given a second chance as a San Francisco homicide detective. But as reporters dog her every step and hordes of mail pour into her office -- from supporters and nutjobs alike--Sabrina falls deeper into a pit of humiliation and anxiety. When nine red roses repeatedly show up on her desk, followed by an ominous red envelope addressed to Calliope, Sabrina realizes that a new killer is targeting her. She is his chosen muse, and the Fates require sacrifice.

Read my review here

Sabrina followed Croft into the room and shut the door. Strickland was crouched next to the bed, looking at something that clung to the side of the pale pink duvet. Whatever it was, it wasn’t blood. From what she could see, there was no visible blood evidence. Lack of blood told her that whatever had happened to Bethany Edwards, it hadn’t been done here.

            “Find something?” She said to her partner and he looked at her before shooting Croft a withering glare.

            “Maybe.” He tipped his chin at her. “Might be semen. Might be something else,” he said, scraping a few flakes into an evidence envelope, carefully not to disturb the rose petals scattered across the bed. “I’ll let CSU tell me, ‘cause I ain’t smelling it.” He cracked a smile. “You do that?” he said, tipping his chin toward Croft’s face.

            She glanced at Croft. Most of the damage was hidden by the hat but she could still see some bumps and bruises. “Yes.”

            “Coulda called—I’d have liked to see it happen.”

            “Check YouTube.”

            Strickland laughed, the sound causing Croft’s shoulders to go stiff. He wasn’t happy about being laughed at but he kept quiet about it. Sabrina watched her partner poke around in the nightstand drawer and remove a couple of items. An expensive tube of lotion. A television remote. A box of tissue. She looked around. No personal items belonging to Bethany Edwards were visible. No clothes on the floor. No magazines or text books. Nothing to tell her that this was a room belonging to a nineteen-year-old college student. Nothing. Just the roses. He’d set the stage—made everything just so in order to feed his fantasy…

            “Bag it. It’s a long shot for prints but he might’ve touched them,” Sabrina said to Strickland and he nodded, learning long ago to not question her instincts.

            She turned to Croft, studying him for a few seconds before speaking. “So… what do you think? Who is she?” she said to him, watching his face for signs.

            Excitement. Arousal. Disgust. Remorse. She saw none of them. All she saw was the kind of detached curiosity that made her slightly uncomfortable.

            “Clio.”

            Strickland stood, his head tilted to the side a fraction of an inch, asking her if she’d told Croft about the phone call she’d gotten that led her here. She shook her head, telling him that she hadn’t. Strickland dropped his free hand to the grip of his service weapon. Croft’s shoulders tensed, as if sensing Strickland’s intentions, but he remained focused on her.

            “At least that’s what it says.” he said, looking at her a second longer before dropping his gaze to the young woman on the bed, his eyes locked on her face.

            Sabrina followed his gaze, took in the scene. She was nude, posed with her hands resting demurely on her stomach. Every inch of her pale skin was covered in writing, the ink a muddy rust against the milky white of it. The same word over and over:

Κλέος

            “You can read that?” Strickland said. His hand was still on his gun. “Is it Latin?”

            Croft looked up at him. “No. It’s Greek and yes, I can read it. And to answer your next questions, I can also speak it and write it.”

            “You’re fluent in both Latin and Greek—you know what that makes you, right?” Strickland said, his hand still on his gun.

            “Aside from a multi-lingual douchebag with an over-priced education? I suppose it makes me a suspect,” Croft said, delivering the last of his revelation directly at her.

            Strickland took a step forward. “No… coupled with the fact that you happen to keep turning up when shit gets weird, it makes you the suspect.”

            Croft turned to face Strickland, head on. “I’m here because she brought me here,” he said, tipping his head at Mandy.

            “Don’t get it twisted—you’re here because you have a thing for following my partner,” Strickland said. She wasn’t sure when he’d done it, but the safety snap that secured his gun inside its holster had been thumbed open.

            “The only thing I’m following, is a story—”

            “Who is Clio?” Mandy said, bringing what was shaping up to be an epic throw down in the middle of a crime scene to a screeching halt.

            Croft spared her a glance, shoving his hands back into the pockets of his jacket. “She’s the muse of history and art. One of the nine daughters of Zeus.”

            Strickland looked at her for a second and suddenly remembered what he’d told her in the elevator. Bethany Edwards had been a history major at Berkeley. From the look he gave her, he’d caught that too. “What’s with the book and the horn?” Strickland said, tilting his head at the items cradled in the victim’s arms.

            “The horn is a clarion, a Greek instrument. The book is… just a book. Both are used to symbolize Clio.” Now Croft looked back at Sabrina. “Even without the writing, I’d know who she was supposed to be.”

            “I bet,” Strickland said under his breath.

            “And the coins?” Sabrina said, cutting her partner a shut-up look.

            Croft leaned in and studied them, one placed over each of the victim’s eyes. “They’re drachmas. Ancient Greeks placed one on each eye to pay Charon, the ferry man, to usher their loved ones across the River Styx and into Hades,” he said, sounding like he was teaching a class on Greek Mythology.

            “You seem to know a lot about Greek death rituals,” Strickland said.

            “Enough to know that isn’t a part of them.” Croft pointed a finger at the victim’s chest. “Organ removal was never practiced by the Greeks.”

            “What’s that?” Sabrina pointed toward the victim’s left shoulder. A letter burned into her skin, as big as her fist. A bright angry red, the edges of her white skin charred black from the iron used to brand her. It looked like a lower-case A but she had a feeling it was something else.

            Croft looked at her, his expression unreadable. “It's the symbol for Alpha. It means the beginning.”

From Sacrificial Muse by Maegan Beaumont. © 2014 by Maegan Beaumont. Used by permission from Midnight Ink Books, www.midnightinkbooks.com.

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BOOK #1

Published May 8th 2013 by Midnight Ink
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Past horrors bleed into a present day nightmare

Fifteen years ago, a psychotic killer abducted seventeen year old Melissa Walker. For 83 days she was raped and tortured before being left for dead in a deserted church yard... But she was still alive.

Melissa begins a new life as homicide inspector, Sabrina Vaughn. With a new face and a new name, it's her job to hunt down murderers and it's a job she does very well.

When Michael O'Shea, a childhood acquaintance with a suspicious past, suddenly finds her, he brings to life the nightmare Sabrina has long since buried.

Believing that his sister was recently murdered by the same monster who attacked Sabrina, Michael is dead set on getting his revenge--using Sabrina as bait.

Read my review here

Maegan Beaumont is the author of CARVED IN DARKNESS, the first book in the Sabrina Vaughn thriller series (Available through Midnight Ink, spring 2013). A native Phoenician, Maegan’s stories are meant to make you wonder what the guy standing in front of you in the Starbucks line has locked in his basement, and feel a strong desire to sleep with the light on.

When she isn’t busy fulfilling her duties as Domestic Goddess for her high school sweetheart turned husband, Joe, and their four children, she is locked in her office with her computer, her coffee pot and her Rhodesian Ridgeback, and one true love, Jade.

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